The Flyers identified 352 seats for their all-you-can-eat ticket package in the northeast corner of the building’s fourth floor, known as the mezzanine level. Those seats are some of the last to sell for hockey, said Shawn Tilger, the team’s vice president of marketing and communication.
“We have always had a challenge selling those rows on the side where we shoot once,” Tilger said. “These are not season tickets or partials [and it is] more of a marketing campaign to sell single-game tickets.”
The seats, midway up the upper deck, are spread over four sections. They cost $47.50 last season without food and drink included. The new ticket price is $66 and covers the cost to eat hot dogs, popcorn, chips and salsa and soda. Alcohol is an additional cost.
When a Flyers patron buys a ticket at the box office, online or by phone, he gets a game ticket and a second ticket that is exchanged for a wristband at a concession stand designated for the all-you-can-eat seats, Tilger said.

A chill blew through the American Airlines Center on Monday as arena workers finished laying the ice for the start of the Dallas Stars’ season.
It takes an eight-person team 36 hours to create the 1-inch sheet of ice, using 10,000 gallons of purified water. Workers also spend several hours painting the Stars’ logo and sponsor names that are embedded in the ice….
First, the concrete floor is chilled to 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, using a wand system, crews spray water on the floor, gradually building the ice up layer by layer.
Workers paint logos and use tape to mark the blue and red lines and faceoff circles on the ice. More layers of ice are laid on top of the painted layer with the arena’s two Zamboni machines.
While adding the final layers, crews fracture the ice in several places and then fill in those cracks to help reduce the stress on the ice during a hockey game.

During an interview with Gaborik last week, the Wild’s chief game-breaker used the word confident or a semblance of the word, such as confidence, no less than a dozen times.
He’s confident with the overhauled training program he engaged this offseason. He’s confident his abdominal muscles are as strong as they’ve ever been. He’s confident his groin problems are history. He’s confident he’ll be able to put in a full season and score 50 goals for the first time. And he’s confident he can guide the Wild during a long playoff run.
All this talk about Gaborik’s confidence has General Manager Doug Risebrough extremely confident.
When it comes to Gaborik avoiding his annual early-season groin injuries, Risebrough believes it has as much to do with Gaborik’s mind as it does with his body.

On the bright side, the pelvic injury allowed McKee to skate only a handful of times from January to July. And as a 10-year NHL veteran, that rest might be beneficial.
He’ll re-join a Blues’ defensive core that looks formidable, with Jackman, Eric Brewer, Bryce Salvador, Christian Backman, Erik Johnson, Matt Walker, Jeff Woywitka and Roman Polak.
“It’s definitely one of the top defensive groups in the league,” McKee said. “We’re in a situation where we’ve got a couple of high-level NHL defensemen that aren’t going to be able to dress some nights.”

“I guess you could say that I know my way around as far as rookies go,” said Murray, son of St. Louis Coach Andy Murray, who coached the Kings from 1999 to 2006. “I’ve been coming to [the Kings’] rookie camps since I was 16. But things are a little different right now.”
Murray, who turned 23 last month, was drafted by the Kings in the fifth round (152nd overall) in 2003 but has not played a game for the organization. In a way, Murray is glad that his father, who was fired in March 2006, is no longer around.
“It was a situation that no matter what, some people would say that I was only here because of my dad,” said the younger Murray, who signed a multiyear entry-level contract with the Kings in May after two seasons of playing for Rapperswil-Jona of the Swiss league.
“It used to get under my skin a little, so it’s good that I get a chance now to

Hockey lost one of its great gentlemen when former Devils GM Max McNab passed away Sunday at age 83.
McNab, who lived in Las Vegas with his wife June after retiring from hockey, was the Devils’ second GM, replacing Billy MacMillan Nov. 22, 1983. He was succeeded by Lou Lamoriello on Sept. 10, 1987.

more and McNab also played for the Wins in the late 40’s and early 1950’s.

Sources tell TSN Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell has been suspended indefinitely without pay after being placed into stage two of the NHL’s substance abuse program.
In order to be reinstated, Bell will require the recommendation of program doctors along with the approval of both the National Hockey League and the NHLPA.

The National Hockey League and National Hockey League Players’ Association announced today that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mark Bell has been placed in Stage 2 of the Substance Abuse & Behavioral Health program of the NHLPA and the NHL.

“All my life, I’ve been watching hockey and Probie. And there he was—in Afghanistan,” Johnson said Sunday at his father’s Emeryville home where family and friends threw a big homecoming party for the local soldier.
Johnson first met Probert when the retired player joined a group of National Hockey League alumni on a tour to visit Canadian soldiers stationed in Afghanistan in late April. Dan Daoust, Mike Pelyk, Dave Hutchison and Dave (Tiger) Williams also made the trip, among others. So did the Stanley Cup.
Probert did not forget Johnson. He attended Sunday’s party to welcome him back to the area and wish him well.
“It’s amazing what (the soldiers) go through,” Probert said. “It was great to go and see that for myself. They just invited me to go back, so I’m looking forward to that.”

Tavares’s agent, Bryan Deasley, says he has spoken with NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly and Players’ Association associate counsels Ian Penny and Stu Grimson about the possible creation of an exceptional player clause that would allow certain players to be drafted a year early.
Deasley said he has sent a memo to each party about the merits of a clause. He says he’s not asking for a blanket change in the draft age.
“We are not looking for anything other than an exceptional status consideration from the league,” he said. “Every once in a while a player comes along that compels us to look at things more clearly and differently — outside the box.”

It is said that the remedy for thirst is to drink before you crave.
Unfortunately for Chicago hockey fans, that cure is nothing more than a mirage.
But for a few hundred lucky ones this weekend, ex-Blackhawks general manager Bob Murray—now the assistant GM in Anaheim and a star in the Ducks’ front office—delivered the chalice to a land parched by a half-century of drought.
The Stanley Cup was indeed here in Chicago, first at a party at Murray’s suburban home, and then at Ridgemoor Country Club on the Northwest Side, where fans and friends who waited a lifetime to drink from Lord Stanley’s hallowed bowl wet their lips and drenched their shirts.

About Kukla’s Korner

Kukla’s Korner is updated around the clock with the work of our own talented bloggers, plus links to the best hockey writing around the internet. We strive to bring you all the breaking hockey news as it happens.

The home page allows you to see the latest postings from every blog on the site. Subscribe here. For general inquiries and more, please contact us anytime.